Last fall I read in my paper of record that the New York Public Library had sold the building housing the Central Children’s Room (the Donnell Library Center), that it would be razed, and that the new hotel would have a smaller branch. Ever since then many, many, many of us have wondered and worried about the fate of the glorious Central Children’s Room. Sadly, we are still in the dark, but increasingly anxious about what is planned.
I visited the original Central Children’s Room at the 42nd Street Library on a visit to New York as a child and remember the incredibly special and exciting atmosphere. That is still the case; it is a library serving child readers, adult readers, and scholars alike. Many a writer or illustrator has gone there to do research. I took a class of graduate students a few years ago and was beside myself as the highly informed staff pulled out treasure after treasure for us to study. I can only hope that this wonderful and special New York City library will be given a third home, one even better than its current one.
Any one with memories or more to share about this special place please go to this post of Fuse#8, a Central Children’s Room librarian by day, a blogger by night.
educating alice 